ST: Indians @ Blue Jays - May 13-15

[Rhythm043]

The guy is clearly trolling and/or not a baseball fan (based on his "baseball is already boring" comment). Team is definitely far from perfect, but the offense is one of the best in the league....despite the lack of bunting lol.

Not trolling at all. So touchy with the Jays like they are actually good or something. I still like baseball but it is more boring to me than some other sports and I have been a Jays fan a long time, but not since Gibbons came back.

So the games they can't seem to score they shouldn't try to generate runs in any other way ? Just keep swinging for the fences, JP Arencibia style.

[BigLeagueChew]

The guy is clearly trolling and/or not a baseball fan (based on his "baseball is already boring" comment). Team is definitely far from perfect, but the offense is one of the best in the league....despite the lack of bunting lol.

Not trolling at all. So touchy with the Jays like they are actually good or something. I still like baseball but it is more boring to me than some other sports and I have been a Jays fan a long time, but not since Gibbons came back.

So the games they can't seem to score they shouldn't try to generate runs in any other way ? Just keep swinging for the fences, JP Arencibia style.

They don't really need to change very much offensively I'm not sure why you are worried about that. The main problem with the team has been starting pitching depth and giving up too many walks. Generating runs by a bunt or steal isn't as simple as just trying it and it will work out. Most of the time you're giving away more outs than you are helping. In other words, we would probably have less runs scored if we tried bunting or stealing more often.

[tecumseh18]

Generating runs by a bunt or steal isn't as simple as just trying it and it will work out. Most of the time you're giving away more outs than you are helping. In other words, we would probably have less runs scored if we tried bunting or stealing more often.

Bunting has actually worked very well for the Jays, historically speaking. Otis Nixon leaps to mind.

Oh wait, that was your point.

[BigLeagueChew]

Bunting has actually worked very well for the Jays, historically speaking. Otis Nixon leaps to mind.

Oh wait, that was your point.

My point was bunting is not needed. Yeah Nixon could get on base by bunting or by an infield hit because of his speed , also though, he wasn't a good enough hitter to hit the ball out infield in the first place. We don't really have a comparable to Nixon other than maybe Gose. In no way should Reyes or anyone else on our team bunt for base hits as often as Nixon did.

I'm getting Farrell flashbacks right now, the amount of times we tried bunting with him and it didn't work out were extremely annoying.

It's not often someone steals home or performs a successful squeeze play, it usually causes more outs against us for runs for. Anyways, I just don't agree that we need to bunt and steal more, we need pitching.

2nd in the MLB in runs scored and 2nd in OPS.

[Raps_Swingman]

Offence is clearly not the problem and I can't see how people would argue against that.

Our starting pitching needs to go deeper in games and our bullpen needs to be better if we want to stay in this race.

[Randle McMurphy]

Bunting has actually worked very well for the Jays, historically speaking. Otis Nixon leaps to mind.

Oh wait, that was your point.

My point was bunting is not needed. Yeah Nixon could get on base by bunting or by an infield hit because of his speed , also though, he wasn't a good enough hitter to hit the ball out infield in the first place. We don't really have a comparable to Nixon other than maybe Gose. In no way should Reyes or anyone else on our team bunt for base hits as often as Nixon did.

He was referring to the ending of this, I believe: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKwinmoAR2w#t=212m20s[/youtube]

I'm getting Farrell flashbacks right now, the amount of times we tried bunting with him and it didn't work out were extremely annoying.

It's not often someone steals home or performs a successful squeeze play, it usually causes more outs against us for runs for. Anyways, I just don't agree that we need to bunt and steal more, we need pitching.

2nd in the MLB in runs scored and 2nd in OPS.

Yes, obviously the lack of bunting is not this team's problem. Thankfully Gibbons doesn't pander to those ideas.

[BigLeagueChew]

He was referring to the ending of this, I believe: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKwinmoAR2w#t=212m20s[/youtube]

Completely forgot about that and missed the reference. Really good example of what we are talking about.

[Schad]

Even setting aside the silliness of bunting in general, bunting with this lineup is even more pointless. Yeah, there are times when Scrub Second Baseman of the Week should bunt, and they do. Most of the rest of them, however, do not have the bat control to bunt. For the 1000th time: bunting a ball down the line, particularly snap bunts where you're trying to catch the defense unawares, is not the easiest skill. Here are the regular starters in our lineup, including the number of sac bunts and bunt hits they have in their careers:


Dioner Navarro - 29 sac bunts, 11 bunt singles.
Edwin Encarnacion - 31 sac bunts, 0 bunt singles.
Jose Reyes - 33 sac bunts, 72 bunt singles.
Brett Lawrie - 5 sac bunts, 1 bunt single.
Melky Cabrera - 38 sac bunts, 25 bunt singles.
Colby Rasmus - 11 sac bunts, 19 bunt singles.
Jose Bautista - 22 sac bunts, 3 bunt singles.
Adam Lind - 3 sac bunts, 0 bunt singles.
Juan Francisco - 0 sac bunts, 1 bunt single.


So, with the exception of Jose Reyes and early-career Melky, these are players with an extremely sparse record of bunt attempts...we're talking a couple per year. And lo, we'll probably be talking a couple this year, as well. You really want a bunt of players who almost never bunt and in many cases have not regularly bunted in their bleedin' lives to start utilizing it frequently because you think they'd score more runs that way than the 4.9 per game they're pulling off now?